Fórum Defesa Brasil

Costly flaws found in Navy's top jet
Wing mechanism wear could halve flight hours

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Engineers have uncovered a flaw in the Navy's top fighter jet that could reduce by half the aircraft's advertised service life and potentially cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs, according to Pentagon documents and military and industry officials.

A mechanism inside the wings of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, manufactured by Boeing Co. , is wearing out prematurely, prompting the Navy to order the company to make changes in the plane's production as well as retrofit several hundred planes already operating off the decks of Navy aircraft carriers, according to a Navy official.

Officials stressed that they are not considering whether to ground the workhorse jet, because the problem does not affect its operation. Still, the "fatigue life issue," if uncorrected, would drastically shorten the $50 million aircraft's life span from 6,000 flight hours to 3,000 hours, the documents warn.

"Through testing of Super Hornets they discovered there is a fatigue issue on part of the inside of one of the wings," a Navy official confirmed in a statement yesterday. "From here on out every aircraft will be made so they don't have the problem." The official said at least 193 planes now in service will be retrofitted beginning in 2010. The plane was introduced in 1999.

But the wing is apparently not the only thing that needs to be retrofitted, according to the Navy official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the program. The Navy did not comment officially about the problem despite numerous requests.


The current fleet of Super Hornets is slated to receive a total of 40 modifications, both major and minor; additionally, a separate problem with the aircraft's wing flaps could limit even further the plane's ability to fly safely, the documents show. Special fatigue tests now underway to identify a fix for the second wing problem are set to be completed in July.

Navy officials said they will not know the price tag for retrofitting the wings until an "engineering change proposal" outlining solutions is completed in the coming months.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a defense and public policy think tank, said any structural problem in the jet's wing "is a much bigger problem" that will require expensive, time-consuming repairs.

"It would be very costly to go back and refit" the jets, Thompson said. "Usually, if there is fatigue or corrosion problems [on aircraft wings], it is [on] the outside part that is exposed to the elements. When you develop a fatigue problem inside the wing, the challenge of fixing it grows.

"The cost, the man hours, the time the aircraft are out of service: No matter how you want to measure it, it is not minor."

The Navy plans to build 210 Super Hornets over the next five years. Ninety of the planes will be outfitted with advanced radar and high-tech sensors to jam enemy electronics. That version, known as the Growler, is awaiting approval to begin initial production next year.

Australia recently signed a $2.4 billion deal to purchase 24 Super Hornets, the first sale in what Boeing hopes will be a growing foreign market for the aircraft.

The structural problem in the wings has emerged at a time when Boeing has proposed selling the Navy at least 100 more Super Hornets in case the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- the Pentagon's next-generation attack jet now under development -- is delayed further, according to news reports. The F-35, produced by Boeing rival Lockheed Martin, is not expected to enter service for eight years.

The Super Hornet is 25 percent larger than its predecessor, which was first widely introduced in the 1980s. Considered one of the Pentagon's most complex aircraft, the Super Hornet became the Navy's mainstay jet after the infamous A-12 stealth aircraft project -- launched to replace the aging, earlier-model Hornets -- collapsed.

Some critics argue that the design changes and upgrades in the latest generation Hornets were so significant that the Super Hornet project should have been scrutinized as though it were an entirely new aircraft line -- rather than the more cursory look reserved for modifications of earlier-model aircraft.

"They never built a prototype," said James P. Stevenson , a military aircraft specialist and author of "The Pentagon Paradox," which reserves a chapter for the F/A-18 program. "After 25 years of development they still haven't got it right."

Indeed, the F/A-18 program has had a series of aerodynamic and structural problems over the years. As far back as the early 1980s, the first versions of the Hornets also had problems with premature wear and tear on the airframe, requiring significant retrofitting.

Those structural issues have been more pronounced with the Super Hornet.

For example, testing of the Super Hornet in the late 1990s revealed that the plane would "flutter" during certain maneuvers -- a flaw that nearly brought the program to a standstill. It required the Navy and Boeing to make substantial changes to the wings and pylons.

Yet while those adjustments made the flutter "manageable," according to the new documents, it produced a new problem: accelerated wear on some of the missiles carried under the wings, according to the documents.

Now, the Navy and Boeing are scrambling to come up with a solution for the Super Hornet's wing fatigue, which first showed up in tests in 2005, the Navy official said.

The prediction that the flaw could drastically cut the jet's anticipated life pan amazed some defense analysts .

"That would be a significant decrease," said Richard Aboulafia , a defense analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, V a.

Still, the documents indicate the Navy and Boeing are confident they know how to fix the problem. A proposal "that will address the inter-wing retro fit" is expected within a few months, according to a document prepared by Naval Air Systems Command and provided to the Globe. "Not until 2008 will aircraft roll off the line with full life" if Boeing makes the necessary adjustments to its production, according to the document.

Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Xiii...

O pior cego é aquele que não vê!!!!

Vamos de Superhornet e com transferência de tecnologia sim! E de lambuja alguns off-sets para exercito e Marinha!!!! Pois nessa o “tiu Sam” é quem baixou as calças para nós, ou baixava ou dava SU-35 na cabeça, para alegria geral da nação e confesso a minha também. Parabéns a FAB por mostrar que o Brasil não é cachorro sem dono!!!!

Para aqueles que torcem pelo Rafale!! Já podem começar ensaiar o chororô, e vai ser muito, ele já subiu no telhado a algum tempo!!!!!

Abraço a todos!

Tradução do artigo acima Super Hornet (Tradutor da Web)

Onerosa falhas encontradas no início da Marinha jato
Wing mecanismo de desgaste poderia reduzir a metade hora Voo

Por Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON - Os engenheiros têm descoberto uma falha no início da Marinha jato de combate que poderia reduzir pela metade a vida útil da aeronave publicitados e potencialmente custou aos contribuintes centenas de milhões de dólares em reparações, de acordo com o Pentágono e documentos militares e funcionários da indústria.

Um mecanismo no interior das asas do F/A-18 Super Hornet, fabricado pela Boeing Co., está a esgotar-se prematuramente, o que levou a Marinha para ordenar a empresa a fazer mudanças no plano da produção, assim como várias centenas de aviões retrofit já operam fora os pavimentos dos porta-aviões da Marinha, de acordo com um oficial da Marinha.

Funcionários salientou que não se considere a hipótese de o terreno WORKHORSE jato, porque o problema não afectar o seu funcionamento. Ainda assim, a "fadiga vida questão", se não corrigido, seria reduzir drasticamente os $ 50 milhões aeronaves da vida a partir de 6000 horas de voo de 3000 horas, os documentos avisar.

"Com os testes da Super Hornets eles descobriram há uma questão em relação à fadiga parte do interior de uma das alas," um oficial da Marinha confirmou, em uma declaração de ontem. "A partir de agora todos os aviões serão feitos para que eles não têm o problema." O oficial disse que passou pelo menos 193 aviões em serviço serão posteriormente montados início em 2010. O plano foi instituído em 1999.

Mas a asa não está aparentemente a única coisa que precisa ser adaptada, de acordo com o oficial da Marinha, que pediram para não ser chamado porque ele não está autorizado a falar durante o programa. A Marinha não se pronunciou oficialmente sobre o problema, apesar de numerosos pedidos.


A actual frota de Super Hornets constatou a PANA de receber um total de 40 modificações, tanto maiores e menores; adicionalmente, um problema com a aeronave separada da ala retalhos poderia limitar ainda mais a capacidade do avião para voar com segurança, os documentos comprovam. Especial fadiga testes actualmente em curso para identificar uma correção para a segunda ala problema estão definidas para ser concluído em julho.

Funcionários da Marinha disse que eles não vão sabe o preço de reequipamento das asas até uma "engenharia mudança proposta" delineando soluções está concluída nos próximos meses.

Loren Thompson, um analista da defesa do Instituto Lexington, uma defesa e ordem pública think tank, disse que nenhum problema estrutural na asa do jato "é um problema muito maior", que exigem que caro, time-consuming reparos.

"Seria muito caro para voltar e consertar" os jactos, disse Thompson. "Normalmente, se há fadiga ou corrosão problemas [em aeronaves asas], que é [sobre] a parte exterior que é exposto aos elementos. Quando você desenvolver uma fadiga problema dentro da asa, o desafio de fixar ela cresce.

"O custo, o homem horas, o tempo a aeronave estiver fora de serviço: Não importa como você deseja medir isso, não é menor."

A Marinha planos para construir 210 Super Hornets durante os próximos cinco anos. Noventa dos aviões serão equipados com radar avançado e de alta tecnologia para sensores eletrônicos compota inimigo. Essa versão, conhecida como o resmungão, está aguardando aprovação para começar a produção inicial do próximo ano.

Austrália assinou recentemente um negócio $ 2,4 bilhões para comprar 24 Super Hornets, a primeira venda, em que a Boeing espera se venha a ser um mercado crescente para as aeronaves estrangeiras.

O problema estrutural nos bastidores, surgiu num momento em que a Boeing propôs vender a Marinha, pelo menos, mais 100 Super Hornets no caso do F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - o do Pentágono de próxima geração em desenvolvimento agora atacam jato - se atrase ainda mais , Segundo o noticiário. O F-35, produzido pela rival Boeing Lockheed Martin, não se espera que o serviço entra em oito anos.

O Super Hornet é de 25 por cento maior do que seu antecessor, que foi primeiro amplamente introduzido na década de 1980. Considerado um dos mais complexos do Pentágono aeronave, o Super Hornet da Marinha passou a ser o esteio jato após o famoso A-12 aviões stealth projeto - criado para substituir o envelhecimento, mais cedo-Hornets modelo - desabou.

Alguns críticos argumentam que as mudanças e modernizações em design de última geração Hornets foram tão significativos que o Super Hornet projeto deveria ter sido analisada como se fosse uma aeronave totalmente nova rubrica - e não a mais rápida olhada reservados para modificações do modelo anterior - aeronaves.

"Eles nunca construíram um protótipo", disse James P. Stevenson, um avião militar especialista e autor de "O Pentágono Paradox", que reserva um capítulo para o F/A-18 programa. "Após 25 anos de desenvolvimento ainda não entendi direito."

Na verdade, o F/A-18 programa tem tido uma série de problemas estruturais e aerodinâmicas ao longo dos anos. Com efeito, já que o início de 1980, as primeiras versões dos Hornets também teve problemas com uso e desgaste prematuro sobre a célula, exigindo significativa reequipamento.

Essas questões estruturais têm sido mais acentuado, com o Super Hornet.

Por exemplo, teste do Super Hornet no final da de 1990 revelou que o avião iria "flutter" durante algumas manobras - uma falha que quase trouxe o programa para uma parada. Foi necessária a Marinha ea Boeing para fazer alterações substanciais no asas e pilares.

No entanto, embora os ajustamentos feitos ao flutter "administrável", de acordo com os novos documentos, produziu um novo problema: desgaste acelerado em alguns dos mísseis transportadas nas asas, segundo os documentos.

Agora, a Marinha ea Boeing são desordenando a arranjar uma solução para o Super Hornet da ala fadiga, que apareceu primeiro em testes em 2005, disseram oficiais da Marinha.

A previsão de que a falha poderia cortar drasticamente o jato da vida antecipou pan espantado alguns analistas defesa.

"Isso seria uma diminuição significativa", disse Richard Aboulafia, um analista da defesa do Teal Group, em Fairfax, V a.

Ainda assim, os documentos indicam a Marinha ea Boeing estão confiantes de que sabem como corrigir o problema. A proposta ", que abordará a inter-retro asa encaixar" é esperada dentro de alguns meses, de acordo com um documento elaborado pelo Comando Naval Air Systems e desde que a Globo. "Não até 2008 irá aeronaves roll off line com a vida plena", se a Boeing faz os ajustes necessários à sua produção, segundo o documento.

Bender pode ser contatado pelo bender@globe.com.
Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Se formos de F18 que consertem esse problema antes. Recebera avião com defeito não da .

Sterrius escreveu:Se formos de F18 que consertem esse problema antes. Recebera avião com defeito não da .

Não existe como consertar isso, é problema de como foi concebida a célula. A única maneira é fazer o que já foi feito, existe limitação de forças G´s em todos eles, apesar das declarações de 9 G´s, os F-18 estão limitados a força 7,5 g´s para evitar o desgaste prematuro das células.

O F-18A teve até um tempo proibido de voar, por conta das rachaduras verificadas em suas empenagens verticais, foram colocados remendos neles, que estão bem visíveis em fotografias.

[ ]´s

Sterrius escreveu:Se formos de F18 que consertem esse problema antes. Recebera avião com defeito não da .

Eh como digo...a FAB nao eh boba.
Ela vai testar o caca in loco.

[]s

Por 3 mil horas até achar essas falhas estruturais? É ?

Parabéns a FAB por mostrar que o Brasil não é cachorro sem dono!!!!

Cachorro e com dono. Realmente, nunca uma frase foi tão verdadeira.

soultrain escreveu:Costly flaws found in Navy's top jet
Wing mechanism wear could halve flight hours

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- Engineers have uncovered a flaw in the Navy's top fighter jet that could reduce by half the aircraft's advertised service life and potentially cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs, according to Pentagon documents and military and industry officials.

A mechanism inside the wings of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, manufactured by Boeing Co. , is wearing out prematurely, prompting the Navy to order the company to make changes in the plane's production as well as retrofit several hundred planes already operating off the decks of Navy aircraft carriers, according to a Navy official.

Officials stressed that they are not considering whether to ground the workhorse jet, because the problem does not affect its operation. Still, the "fatigue life issue," if uncorrected, would drastically shorten the $50 million aircraft's life span from 6,000 flight hours to 3,000 hours, the documents warn.

"Through testing of Super Hornets they discovered there is a fatigue issue on part of the inside of one of the wings," a Navy official confirmed in a statement yesterday. "From here on out every aircraft will be made so they don't have the problem." The official said at least 193 planes now in service will be retrofitted beginning in 2010. The plane was introduced in 1999.

But the wing is apparently not the only thing that needs to be retrofitted, according to the Navy official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the program. The Navy did not comment officially about the problem despite numerous requests.


The current fleet of Super Hornets is slated to receive a total of 40 modifications, both major and minor; additionally, a separate problem with the aircraft's wing flaps could limit even further the plane's ability to fly safely, the documents show. Special fatigue tests now underway to identify a fix for the second wing problem are set to be completed in July.

Navy officials said they will not know the price tag for retrofitting the wings until an "engineering change proposal" outlining solutions is completed in the coming months.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a defense and public policy think tank, said any structural problem in the jet's wing "is a much bigger problem" that will require expensive, time-consuming repairs.

"It would be very costly to go back and refit" the jets, Thompson said. "Usually, if there is fatigue or corrosion problems [on aircraft wings], it is [on] the outside part that is exposed to the elements. When you develop a fatigue problem inside the wing, the challenge of fixing it grows.

"The cost, the man hours, the time the aircraft are out of service: No matter how you want to measure it, it is not minor."

The Navy plans to build 210 Super Hornets over the next five years. Ninety of the planes will be outfitted with advanced radar and high-tech sensors to jam enemy electronics. That version, known as the Growler, is awaiting approval to begin initial production next year.

Australia recently signed a $2.4 billion deal to purchase 24 Super Hornets, the first sale in what Boeing hopes will be a growing foreign market for the aircraft.

The structural problem in the wings has emerged at a time when Boeing has proposed selling the Navy at least 100 more Super Hornets in case the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- the Pentagon's next-generation attack jet now under development -- is delayed further, according to news reports. The F-35, produced by Boeing rival Lockheed Martin, is not expected to enter service for eight years.

The Super Hornet is 25 percent larger than its predecessor, which was first widely introduced in the 1980s. Considered one of the Pentagon's most complex aircraft, the Super Hornet became the Navy's mainstay jet after the infamous A-12 stealth aircraft project -- launched to replace the aging, earlier-model Hornets -- collapsed.

Some critics argue that the design changes and upgrades in the latest generation Hornets were so significant that the Super Hornet project should have been scrutinized as though it were an entirely new aircraft line -- rather than the more cursory look reserved for modifications of earlier-model aircraft.

"They never built a prototype," said James P. Stevenson , a military aircraft specialist and author of "The Pentagon Paradox," which reserves a chapter for the F/A-18 program. "After 25 years of development they still haven't got it right."

Indeed, the F/A-18 program has had a series of aerodynamic and structural problems over the years. As far back as the early 1980s, the first versions of the Hornets also had problems with premature wear and tear on the airframe, requiring significant retrofitting.

Those structural issues have been more pronounced with the Super Hornet.

For example, testing of the Super Hornet in the late 1990s revealed that the plane would "flutter" during certain maneuvers -- a flaw that nearly brought the program to a standstill. It required the Navy and Boeing to make substantial changes to the wings and pylons.

Yet while those adjustments made the flutter "manageable," according to the new documents, it produced a new problem: accelerated wear on some of the missiles carried under the wings, according to the documents.

Now, the Navy and Boeing are scrambling to come up with a solution for the Super Hornet's wing fatigue, which first showed up in tests in 2005, the Navy official said.

The prediction that the flaw could drastically cut the jet's anticipated life pan amazed some defense analysts .

"That would be a significant decrease," said Richard Aboulafia , a defense analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, V a.

Still, the documents indicate the Navy and Boeing are confident they know how to fix the problem. A proposal "that will address the inter-wing retro fit" is expected within a few months, according to a document prepared by Naval Air Systems Command and provided to the Globe. "Not until 2008 will aircraft roll off the line with full life" if Boeing makes the necessary adjustments to its production, according to the document.
Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Esse artigo eh do comeco de 2007.
Eh so a FAB verificar com a Boeing o que foi realizado. Muita ingenuidade achar que a FAB jah no fez isso.

[]s

No final acho que vamos viver a nossa realidade:Vamos ter mosquitos espalhados por todo o Brasil.

E a BOEING vai dizer, logo prá FAB, que o F-18E, no meio de uma concorrência, anda desmanchando a estrutura com meras 3 mil horas de operação, coisa que a US NAVY não ficou sabendo antes do desmancha-desmancha ... Já estou aqui imaginando essa cena.

Carlos Mathias escreveu:E a BOEING vai dizer, logo prá FAB, que o F-18E, no meio de uma concorrência, anda desmanchando a estrutura com meras 3 mil horas de operação, coisa que a US NAVY não ficou sabendo antes do desmancha-desmancha ... Já estou aqui imaginando essa cena.

Nossa....o pessoal daqui eh fogo. Pegam materia antiga, requetam e se tem a impressao que isso eh um achado, uma descoberta.....

Essa materia saiu em maio de 2007. Naquele momento haviam muitas criticas requentadas sobre o SH. Os F-14 estavam saindo de operacao e os Marines so queriam os F/A-35B.

Entao em junho de 2007, vem o gerente do programa, Capt. Don Gaddis, e explica ponto a ponto os mitos que estavam se criando naquele momento, Abaixo, em vermelho, ele aborda o problema levantado pelo rafalista declarado Soultrain e explica que o mesmo jah foi resolvido. Os novos cacas jah nao tem esse problema e os anteriores foram retrofitados.

Ainda bem que a FAB entende de caca e sabe avaliar um. A hora do Rafale e seus sistemas vai chegar

OBS.: As 6.000h de vida do SH eh para operacao em porta-avioes.

[]s

----------------------------------------------------------

Navy: Super Hornet rep for problems untrue

Corps may be responsible for bad rap
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jun 17, 2007 9:09:10 EDT

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — Inside Naval Air Systems Command headquarters at this southern Maryland base, Navy program officials for the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter program have heard the stories circulating in the Pentagon.

Their aircraft, the stories go, can’t carry certain weapons, can’t fly high enough, can’t go fast enough. Design problems such as wing flutter plague the plane and — perhaps worst of all — parts that will wear out fast enough to severely shorten the plane’s life-span are not being replaced.

There’s just one problem with the stories, say the Navy officials: None of them is true.

“We’re really scratching our heads, thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ ” Super Hornet program manager Navy Capt. Don Gaddis said.

So who’s spreading these stories about the Super Hornet?

The answer, which surprised some program officials: the Marine Corps — which isn’t even part of the Super Hornet program.

The Corps plans to replace its aging Hornets and AV-8B Harrier jump jets with the F-35B short-takeoff-or-vertical-landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter.

So why do the Marines even care about the Super Hornet?

“The Marines seem to be trying to discredit the Super Hornet as a way of heading off efforts to cut their purchase of the STOVL JSF,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank in Washington.

“If JSF is delayed,” said naval analyst Norman Polmar, “the Marines will be forced to buy Super Hornet, which will leave them with nothing to operate off amphibious ships.”

The STOVL JSF for the Marines isn’t set to enter service until 2012 at the earliest. The Corps, unlike the Navy, is strongly committed to the new strike fighter and is eagerly anticipating an all-STOVL aviation strike force.

But the JSF program has suffered several delays, and in contrast to the Marines, neither the Pentagon — the Navy and Air Force also will fly the plane — nor Congress seem to have a sense of urgency about keeping the program on schedule and getting the aircraft into service.

The Marines are afraid that if their plane is struck by further delays, they won’t be able to buy new JSFs fast enough to replace their aging strike aircraft, and they might need something else to bridge the gap between new planes and old. Into that gap, the Marines fear, could fly the Super Hornet. And for each new F/A-18 the Marines get, that’s likely one less STOVL JSF.

“We’ve had this vision for a long time to be an all-STOVL force,” said Marine Brig. Gen. Robert Walsh, deputy assistant commandant for aviation.

“We’re a swing force, where we can go expeditionary, land on a big runway at a major operating base,” Walsh said June 7 in his Pentagon office. “We can go smaller runway, [conduct] dispersed, distributed operations. We can go on amphibious shipping, we can go on large aircraft carrier decks. We can pretty much go everywhere with the flexibility the JSF STOVL brings.”

The aircraft the Marines are most worried about replacing sooner rather than later are the Harriers and the two-seat F/A-18D Hornets, Walsh said.

“Our F/A-18A+ and F/A-18C Hornets aren’t in that bad shape,” he said. “But we’re watching them very closely because we’ve got hour and fatigue limits on those aircraft.”

The high operations tempo for all aircraft in recent years “has caused some stress between us and the Navy,” Walsh said. “There’s pressure there in how you reduce the strike fighter shortfall.”

F/A-18 Super Hornets already are flying with the Navy — the single-seat F/A-18E replaced older Hornet aircraft and the two-seat F/A-18F replaced the fleet’s F-14 Tomcats. A new two-seat EA-18G electronics countermeasure version of the aircraft is due to begin operational evaluation next year.

Three versions of the F-35 JSF are being developed — F-35A for the Air Force, F-35B STOVL for the Marines and the British Royal Navy, and the F-35C carrier version for the Navy. But the $276 billion program — the largest single program in the defense budget — also is a fat target for budget cutters, and worries persist that the program will continue to suffer delays.

Hence, the Marines are worried about being sucked into the Super Hornet program, to the detriment of their JSFs.

Problems spark ‘déjà vu’
Several unofficial briefings and papers listing alleged defects in Super Hornets have circulated for at least a year inside the Pentagon. Some have been leaked to the media, including Military Times.

The Marines officially disavow the materials.

“Unofficial, unendorsed and old briefs are nothing more than opinions which may have been used to make decisions on which direction Marine aviation was headed long ago. They do not represent the one position that matters: the Marine Corps’ official position, which is: The F-35B represents the centerpiece of Marine Corps’ aviation, and this is supported by the program of record,” said Maj. Eric Dent, a Marine spokesman.

Still, the allegations continue to make the rounds. A recent story in the Boston Globe about one of the alleged problems sent program officials hurrying to Capitol Hill to reassure Congress there were no serious issues with the aircraft.

“This is déjà vu,” Gaddis said from NavAir. “Some of those things they’re digging up are literally 12 to 15 years old.”

Gaddis and his team actually have a game plan for each time the issues reappear.

“Every so often, about every two or three years, these questions come up. We can answer pretty much anything you want answered,” he said.

Widespread enthusiasm for the Super Hornet throughout the naval aviation community belies the alleged problems with the aircraft. The Boeing-built twin-engine jet, a development of the original McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, deployed in 2002. Originally intended as a stopgap measure between the demise of the old A-6 Intruder and failed A-12 replacement and the JSF, the Super Hornet has legions of admirers despite some shortcomings. With the APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar installed in new aircraft, the Navy is even more enthusiastic.

“By any measure — reliability, availability, flexibility, bombs dropped, accuracy — we exceeded the F/A-18Cs in expectations across the board,” said Capt. Jeffrey Penfield, head of air-to-air missile systems for NAVAIR.

Penfield, who commanded Strike Fighter Squadron 115 during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and wrote the operational evaluation for the Super Hornet, is adamant in his support for the aircraft.

“It went beyond expectation,” he declared. “It knocked the ball out of the park.”

Debunking the claims
Gaddis, Penfield and the Super Hornet team at NavAir addressed numerous alleged issues with the aircraft.

* Claim: There is still “manageable wing flutter” with the aircraft and the “wing drop” problem persists.

Rebuttal: “We do not have a flutter problem with this airplane and have never had a flutter problem,” declared Gaddis. “The only thing we can think of is they are getting it confused with the old wing drop problem. That was solved.”

NAVAIR engineers noted that wing drop and wing flutter are different phenomena. Flutter, explained engineer Mike Masse, “is a self-excited oscillation” — basically, vibrations that cause aircraft instability. “There are no stability problems or restrictions on F/A-18 E/F,” he said.

The well-publicized wing drop problem discovered during flight tests in 1997 was entirely different, Super Hornet chief engineer Ed Hovanesian said.

“It’s a momentary loss [of lift] on one wing,” he said, causing a quick roll-off in a specific portion of the flight envelope.

Although a slight vibration — dubbed “residual lateral activity” — remains, a series of fixes essentially solved the problem by 1999, he said.

Now, “as you pull the airplane, you get a little bit of lateral oscillation that is only there from 7.8 to 8.1 degrees [angle of attack],” he said. “You can pull a little bit harder and it’s gone. You can pull a little bit less and it’s gone.”

Many pilots notice no effect at all, he said.

“The most important thing about it,” Hovanesian added, “is it did not cause any task abandonment at all.”

* Claim: The wing drop led to the weapons pylons being canted outboard six degrees, causing increased wear on weapons and severely cutting their ability to acquire a target before launch.

Rebuttal: Canting the pylons is “totally different,” Gaddis said. “It’s not related [to wing drop] in any form.”

“That’s been a myth for about 12 to 14 years,” he said.

“We never flew the aircraft with straight pylons,” Hovanesian said.

Rather, they pointed out, the cant was developed to ensure proper weapons separation as bombs and missiles are launched from the aircraft. Super Hornets have three weapons stations under each wing, compared with two on the older Hornets, and a four-degree outboard cant was developed to increase the distance between weapons.

One by one, the team debunked the other allegations. Missiles are not showing excessive wear due to the cant, they said. There are no unusual weight, speed or altitude limitations with a combat-loaded aircraft. “The [F/A-18C] with a full load has the same limitations” in altitude and speed, Penfield said, while the Super Hornet has no problems carrying its top-rated full load of 66,000 pounds.

“The airplane launches at 66,000 all the time,” he said.

A claim that weight restriction problems extend to the new EA-18G Growler also was brushed aside. Test aircraft have flown with five ALQ-99 electronic warfare pods weighing about 1,000 pounds each, Gaddis said.

There are no restrictions for carrying certain weapons, the team said, other than weapons that have not yet gone through a certification process.

Another claim says the aircraft cannot go supersonic while carrying a full weapons load.

True enough, Penfield said — the aircraft “wasn’t designed for that.”

Critics also claim delivery of weapons pylons is two years behind schedule and not enough pylons are available, limiting training for the Super Hornets.

“The idea about being two years late on pylon delivery is just not true,” Gaddis said.

Early aircraft were delivered with no pylons due to a previous $440 million budget cut, he said, but the issue was resolved a few years ago with more funding.

“We were in catch-up mode,” he said, until supply caught up with demand “about two years ago.”

Gaddis and Hovanesian scoffed at claims that not enough pylons are available for training.

“Why carry six bombs when you can just carry one for training?” Hovanesian said. “It’s just cost.”

The Boston Globe article reported that failure of some parts could cause the aircraft’s planned 6,000-flight-hour life to be limited to 3,000 hours. “That was probably one of the most egregious statements” in the article, he said.

The problem referred to in the article would have shortened the planes’ lives, but it has been solved, Gaddis said.

“We found it early on” and a redesigned part already is being installed on new aircraft, he said, with a retrofit planned for earlier aircraft long before they reach any flight-hour limitations.

Back in Washington, no one knows whether the Marines will be forced to buy Super Hornets.

Rear Adm. Bruce Clingan, director of the Navy’s Air Warfare Division in the Pentagon, said June 4 there are no plans to integrate the aircraft into Marine Corps aviation.

Walsh noted that even if the Marines’ F/A-18Cs and A+ models wear out before they can be replaced with F-35Bs, Navy F/A-18Cs replaced by Super Hornets could be used by the Marines until more STOVLs are available.

“We can’t have a big huge beast,” Walsh said about the need for STOVL JSF. “We need a small footprint.”

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/20 ... et_070617/

Leite Glória, desmancha sem bater.

Carlos Mathias escreveu:

Leite Glória, desmancha sem bater.

Mas isso é bom, assim eles fabricam mais caças descartáveis. Depois vão ter que aumentar o ARMAC para colocar esses velhinhos prematuros.

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Já tinha os F-16 chupa-pedras e quebrador de asas (as próprias), agora me aparece essa do Leite Glória. Tâ mo bem servido mesmo de FX.